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Survey: In Ramadan, public transports go haywire

Commuters in Dhaka have been facing extreme suffering as about 96% of the buses and minibuses claiming to be a sitting service, have changed their operations with the altered Ramadan office hours.

Bus passengers inside Dhaka face the most suffering between 7am-11am and 2pm-11pm during Ramadan. Besides, 94% of CNG-run auto rickshaw drivers are charging passengers for rides on a contractual basis with 98% of them charging extra.

Bangladesh Jatree Kalyan Samity (JKS), a platform for passengers’ welfare, published the result of a survey on Saturday.

Five JKS teams conducted the survey for six days at various points of the city including Gulistan, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Postagola, Shahbagh, Farmgate, Mirpur-10, Mohakhali, Agargaon, Dhanmondi, Banani, and Baridhara.

Drivers of 310 buses and 557 bus passengers, 214 auto-rickshaw drivers, 185 auto-rickshaw passengers, and 56 taxi-cab passengers took part in the survey.

The survey revealed that 82% of passengers expressed displeasure with public transportation during Ramadan, with 92% of the passengers being victims of distress, and 98% of the passengers being victims of inflated fares. Around 62% of passengers are forced to get into and jump off of running buses.

Moreover, around 93% of passengers do not know how to file complaints about their problems and 88% of them admitted that they do not register complaints as they think they will not get justice.